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[Big John]

My take was that it was a sarcastic rather than a sincere use of terrific.

[vdeane]

I will also say, that those of us who live in the vicinity of where the planes crashed, and who remember that day, will all say it was a "terrific" day weatherwise. Not a cloud in the sky. I often wonder if that actually was a factor in the planning, since the hijackers were (relatively) inexperienced and a clear day like that would make it very easy to see your intended target.

And to get to the area.  I know at least one flight wasn't even intended to go anywhere near its target; someone who used to work at DOT was heading in to work that morning (I forget if MO was still at the State Office Campus at the time or if it had already moved to 50 Wolf), and saw an unusual low-flying plane.  As he was watching it, it turned and started heading straight to NYC.

[US 89]

terrific

Forgive me if this isn't true, but it seems your first language might not be English.  The correct word here would be "terrible".  Both words used to mean terror-inspiring, but for the last hundred years or so "terrific" has meant "really good".

I'll give brad.jons the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe the post got "autocorrected". (however, after saying that, I realize I don't recognize the poster's location)

I will also say, that those of us who live in the vicinity of where the planes crashed, and who remember that day, will all say it was a "terrific" day weatherwise. Not a cloud in the sky. I often wonder if that actually was a factor in the planning, since the hijackers were (relatively) inexperienced and a clear day like that would make it very easy to see your intended target.

'

What's fascinating is that I believe the clear weather experienced in NYC that day was due to its location just outside of the outermost bands of Hurricane Erin, typically a region associated with sinking air and thus clear skies. At the time, the storm was located a few hundred miles northwest of Bermuda. Had the storm tracked a bit further west, the whole thing may never have happened - not only due to hijacker inexperience, but also due to flight delays and cancellations that tend to happen when bad weather hits the northeast.

[DandyDan]

I worked the night shift the night before, so I was asleep when it all happened. I lived in suburban Omaha and drove towards Offutt AFB and every possible police car was there because Bush was there.

[bwana39]

I was in a Hotel in Houston.  Still was asleep. I was supposed to be at a conference in around an hour. Coworkers called and woke us up. The trip home was surreal.